OpenAI is making a bold move into hardware, with plans to design and manufacture its own artificial intelligence (AI) chips. According to the Financial Times, the ChatGPT creator is teaming up with semiconductor company Broadcom in an effort to lessen its reliance on Nvidia, whose powerful accelerators currently dominate the AI industry.
The first chips could be ready as soon as next year, though OpenAI reportedly intends to keep them for its own use at the outset, as reported by the Financial Times. Rather than rushing to sell them, the company will deploy the units internally across its infrastructure. If all goes well, this could put OpenAI in direct competition with Nvidia in the hugely profitable AI hardware market.
Hints of the collaboration came during Broadcom’s latest investor call. Chief Executive Hock Tan confirmed that the company was working with clients to develop AI accelerators, though he stopped short of naming names. Still, he did reveal that one partner had recently placed a major production order, a milestone significant enough to make Broadcom revise its financial outlook. “Last quarter, one of these prospects released production orders to Broadcom. We now expect the outlook for fiscal 2026 AI revenue to improve significantly from what we had indicated last quarter,” Tan explained.
But chips aren’t the only new frontier for OpenAI. The company is also turning its attention to the jobs market, announcing plans for an AI-driven employment platform scheduled to launch next year. The service will aim to connect employers with workers skilled in AI, reflecting the growing demand for talent in this space. This platform, when released, will stand tall as a competitor against other platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor.
To support this, OpenAI will roll out a certification scheme in the coming months. The programme is being designed to help employees apply AI more effectively in their roles, giving them practical skills rather than just theoretical knowledge. The initiative is being developed with a host of partner organisations, including retail giant Walmart, the largest private employer in the United States. OpenAI has set itself a striking target: to certify 10 million Americans by the end of the decade.
“If you’re a business looking to hire an AI-savvy employee, or you just need help with a specific task, finding the right person can be hit-or-miss. The OpenAI Jobs Platform will have knowledgeable, experienced candidates at every level, and opportunities for anyone looking to put their skills to use,” said OpenAI CEO of Applications Fidji Simo.
As per Simo, the Jobs Platform of the company will make use of AI to ‘find the perfect matches between what companies need and what workers can offer’. The platform will also feature a dedicated track for small businesses and local governments, aiming to help them compete for top talent — not just large corporations.
The service will also integrate with OpenAI Certifications, which is a new credentialing program which verifies different levels of ‘AI fluency’, from basic workplace use to advanced prompt engineering. These certifications will be delivered via the OpenAI Academy, which is OpenAI’s free online platform launched last year.
OpenAI said that it is working with major employees — including John Deere, Walmart, Boston Consulting Group and Accenture. The company has also partnered with job platforms like Indeed and state governments such as Delaware’s, to align training with real-world hiring needs.
For OpenAI, the dual focus on chips and jobs underscores its ambition to shape not only the software powering generative AI, but also the hardware and skills ecosystem around it. If the chip project succeeds, it could help ease the industry-wide scramble for Nvidia processors, while the jobs platform may help ordinary workers gain a foothold in an AI-transformed economy.
